Senate approves DiMario’s bill to standardize emissions tracking at state agencies
STATE HOUSE — The Senate today voted to approve a bill from Sen. Alana M. DiMario to create a standard template for state agencies to track their climate emissions.
“By developing a standard emissions reporting template for state agencies, we can embed our Act on Climate goals into our state’s decision-making process,” said Senator DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham), who serves as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Agriculture Committee. “As our state agencies lead by example in meeting our Act on Climate goals, they can also act as a laboratory for the whole state, showing us solutions to the challenges the private sector will face in pursuing the same goals.”
This legislation (2024-S 2541) would charge the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council with developing a template for all state agencies to track their climate emissions, in accordance with meeting the Act on Climate goals and the most recent annual report from the council. It would require state agencies to report their emissions to the council for review by July 1, 2026, and every five years thereafter.
“All state agencies must lead by example on the Act on Climate and reduce their emissions accordingly. However, it is difficult to reduce what you don’t measure. That is why this bill is critical, ensuring that state agencies report their emissions. Armed with the data, they can strategize how to reduce their emissions by increasing things like their electric vehicle fleet, clean heat technology, and renewable energy systems,” said Amanda Barker, Rhode Island policy advocate at Green Energy Consumers Alliance.
The bill now heads to the House for consideration where Environment and Natural Resources Chairman David Bennett (D-Dist. 20, Warwick, Cranston) has introduced companion legislation (2024-H 8043).
“Thank you to Chairwoman DiMario and the Senate for passing this legislation” said Sue AnderBois, director of Climate & Government Relations at The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure, and this bill ensures that the EC4 creates the tools the agencies need to track their progress toward reaching the science-backed targets in Act on Climate. This bill is essential for ensuring we meet our climate mandates.”
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